Life is a Mystery
by Ryuko-chan
Summary: A story about the last days of Emeraude and Zagato, and about their love. Songfic to Madonna's "Like a Prayer"


Dreams and True Wishes  
  
By Ryuko  
  
Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone  
  
I hear you call my name  
  
And it feels like home  
  
"High Priest Zagato," The sweet voice of the beautiful blonde-haired blue eyed girl rang out in the stillness of the chamber where she lay. The robed man paused and turned, his long hair spreading like a curtain.  
  
"Yes, Princess?" The deep voice replied. The princess smiled.  
  
"Are you sure you cannot stay, for just a moment longer?" she asked him, smiling in a preoccupied manner. The priest smiled slightly.  
  
He tilted his head, "Do you need more aid in your prayers, my princess?" he asked cordially. The princess' eyes smiled. She liked it when he said 'my princess'  
  
"No, not really." She said, "I would just like it if, perhaps, you would stay and speak with me a while."  
  
The dark priest bowed down low, "As you wish, my Princess."  
  
When you call my name it's like a little prayer  
  
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there  
  
In the midnight hour I can feel your power  
  
Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there  
  
"Princess Emeraude." The deep voice chimed in, "I do not know if this would be the best course of action." This was another day, another year, and it seemed like another life.  
  
The princess sat up straight, "High Priest Zagato, I cannot allow my people to suffer. Therefore, I shall send my guard to the forests of silence, so that perhaps they can have some success in belaying the monsters there."  
  
A short man shook his head sadly, "I am afraid that whatever may be the problem will not be resolved soon." He said, "But, I must take my leave of you, Princess. I fear there is some important task it is imperative that I do." He bowed shortly, and walked out.  
  
There was a short moment of silence broken by the voice of the dark priest, "Princess, I know why the monsters are appearing in the forest." He said in a voice that conveyed no emotion.  
  
The princess gasped in naïve innocence, "You do?"  
  
The priest nodded sadly.  
  
"And. and you cannot tell me anything to belay these monsters.." the princess asked, both in hope and in despair.  
  
The priest looked at her, his eyes deep and full of emotion, "No, my princess, I am truly sorry, but I cannot say anything to you that will stop this from happening." The princess' eyes filled with tears.  
  
"Oh, Zagato.." she said, addressing him without his title for the first time in their time together, "What have we done?"  
  
I hear your voice, it's like an angel sighing  
  
I have no choice, I hear your voice  
  
Feels like flying  
  
I close my eyes, Oh God I think I'm falling  
  
Out of the sky, I close my eyes  
  
Heaven help me  
  
Another day, the tall man swept his robes aside and made for the door.  
  
"Zagato?" came the tremulous and soft voice. The priest felt his heart simultaneously leap and sink. The princess began to cry. He turned abruptly, and swept his robes around the girl, who now looked much younger than she really was. She pressed her face upon his chest.  
  
"Emeraude.." he said, "Please don't cry. I don't want to make you cry." The princess brought her face up to his.  
  
"I can't. I just can't do it anymore." She said, "It's like a hole in my heart. My people are suffering. And it's because of me." She began to cry again. Zagato placed his hand on her back.  
  
"My princess." He said, "You have thought about your people and only about your people for so many years. So very many years. Don't you think.." he said. But she looked up at him.  
  
"I cannot, Zagato." She said firmly, "I cannot forget my people. I would like nothing more than. than to be in your arms like this forever. forever." Zagato felt his heart crying out at those words, for more than anything else, he could tell what she was thinking right then.  
  
She looked up at him, "But I will not forget my people. I can not forget what pain I will cause them. All of them." Zagato nodded.  
  
"Princess. I. I wish that the gods who created this world had never dreamed up the pillar system."  
  
The princess laughed a bitter laugh through her tears, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "I'm sure that the god of this world wishes that himself. But that cannot change what has already happened."  
  
"Nothing can." Zagato agreed.  
  
"However, I can change what the future will bring." Emeraude said, a tone creeping into her voice that Zagato had never heard.  
  
Zagato stood, slipping the princess out of his embrace, "You do realize, my princess, that I will not let that happen to you." He said, determination the foundation of his words.  
  
Emeraude gasped, "You mustn't!" she said.  
  
Zagato nodded, willing tears away from his own face, "I cannot allow this to happen again. I'm sorry, my princess, but nothing can change my mind." He swept his robe out behind him, leaving the princess crying in her chamber, though his heart broke to hear it. He knew that he would be hearing it more than he had ever wished to in the coming decisive days.  
  
When you call my name it's like a little prayer  
  
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there  
  
In the midnight hour I can feel your power  
  
Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there  
  
The chamber of the newly created castle reverberated with the sobs of the princess.  
  
"Zagato, no, you can't! You can't!" she moaned. The priest stood tall, though his head was hung.  
  
"I must." He said, though he knew it was nothing but a weak excuse, "It must be done." The princess gazed at him with no hate, naught but a deep sadness in her eyes. He stared back with the same. There was no more to say.  
  
"Princess.." came his voice much later, "The Magic Knights are much stronger than I had thought."  
  
"Oh." the princess said, as if seeing him for the first time, "You're hurt." She reached through the orb, over the distance between them, and healed the wound, perhaps the one thing she had ever done for her own feelings. Tears were streaming down her face, as they had been for almost as long as Zagato could remember.  
  
"My princess. I am the one who always makes you cry.." he said, futilely trying to wipe the tears from her visage in the room, "Even though I am the one person who wants to see you smile the most." He said.  
  
He leaned forward, willing his own eyes not to cry, and in the softest and most desperate voice he could muster, whispered, "I love you."  
  
Like a child you whisper softly to me  
  
You're in control just like a child  
  
Now I'm dancing  
  
It's like a dream, no end and no beginning  
  
You're here with me, it's like a dream  
  
Let the choir sing  
  
He felt it when the last blow hit him. Felt his power and life being stripped away as the cleansing wind of heat and light washed over him. And despite himself, despite everything he had worked for, it seemed so very long, he smiled.  
  
"Emeraude." he said, "Be free." And he finally allowed himself to cry, as he was gone into the wind.  
  
Deep in the prison she had created for herself, the blonde haired princess screamed.  
  
When you call my name it's like a little prayer  
  
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there  
  
In the midnight hour I can feel your power  
  
Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there  
  
"I'll kill you.. with Zagato's sword!" called a voice that she didn't know was her own. She remembered thinking that she never even got to kiss him. Not once.  
  
"If you don't kill me now, I will surely pray for the complete destruction of Cephiro!" she pleaded, "Let me think only of him, let my prayers all be for him! Please, Magic Knights, please grant my first and last purely selfish wish. Please. Kill me!"  
  
She saw the tears that streamed down their faces when they finally granted her wish.. More people that she had hurt with her selfishness. But after a moment, she didn't think of it any more, "Zagato.. Zagato.. finally, I am yours and only yours." she whispered, with her dying breath. And then the light shone upon her face.  
  
Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there  
  
Just like a muse to me, you are a mystery  
  
Just like a dream, you are not what you seem  
  
Just like a prayer, no choice your voice can take me there  
  
"Zagato?" said the princess, sitting up. She was laying on the grass of Cephiro, her face warm on one side and wet on the other. She felt the spots where the grass had imprinted her skin.  
  
"Yes, my Emeraude?" came his voice. She looked up to see him standing in a simple tunic and pants, while she was in a simple cotton dress.  
  
"I had a dream." She said, "I dreamed that I loved you." She said, "And then you were gone."  
  
Zagato laughed in his throat, a chuckle that was different than any he had uttered before, "I had the same dream, once." He said, "What a beautiful day today is.." he said, glancing up at the sky.  
  
Emeraude nodded, "More beautiful than I have ever seen it." She agreed.  
  
"Would you like to enjoy it with me?" he asked.  
  
"Forever." Emeraude said, her face shining like it had never shone in life.  
  
"My princess," Zagato said, "we have all the time in the world."  
  
Just like a prayer, I'll take you there  
  
It's like a dream to me 


End file.
